Spectre
by MechaReign
Summary: A Persona 5 OC Story. Johnny's had a rough life and karma decided he shouldn't be happy while living abroad in Japan. Thrown into unfortunate circumstances, he'll try to make the best of things. For his mom, and for himself. But the end of everything is in the way. This isn't the story of Joker, but of Spectre and his Phantom Thieves. Spoilers for Persona 5 obviously.
1. Chapter 1

**bold skills here**

 _italics flashbacks here_

'insert thoughts or comm communication here'

* * *

 **This story is a work of fiction.**

 **Similarities between characters or events to persons living or dead in your world are purely coincidental.**

 **Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of partaking in this alternate game.**

 **I agree.**

 **...The contract has been sealed.**

 **The world is not as it should be. It's filled with distortion, and "ruin" can no longer be avoided.**

 **Those who oppose fate and desire change… From time to time, they were referred to as Tricksters.**

 **Now is the time to rise against the abyss of distortion.**

 **But in this alternate game… The role of Trickster is filled by another.**

* * *

A helicopter speeds in, zooming towards the blinding lights in the distance. Surrounding those lights are the sprawling metropolitan area of Tokyo. The scene then transitions into the origin of those lights, a casino un-befitting of the area, but otherwise a remarkable sight to behold with its neon signs. Almost as if a bit of Las Vegas had merged right into the city. Breaking the sounds typical of such a place, the ringing of an alarm spreads throughout the building.

People shoulder to shoulder in this gambler's den notice something is strange apart from the blaring noise of the alarm. A black figure moving about as if a Phantom along with men in suits entering the area. It is only until a man's shout do they take notice of the figure into their sights, standing upon one of the chandeliers.

The figure was in his late teens, with short black hair covered in an old Japanese school cap and grey eyes poking from a Venetian mask covered in black but white within the outlines of his eyes. His costume was unorthodox, clothed in a black business suit not unlike the men below. What stood out from them was the equipment belt filled with tools and weapons, a red inner shirt with a white tie, red gloves, and a cape that covered his right side that hung from his back. In his arms, a non-descript briefcase you could buy almost anywhere.

"Hey... Up there!" He shouted, pointing upwards to the figure in question.

The men in suits respond in kind.

"He's here. Move in immediately." One radioed in to his chain of command.

The figure grins with teeth blaring at the men below and proceeds to his destination. Adrenaline starts pumping into his body. Knowing that the chase begins now.

 ** _(Life Will Change -instrumental version-)_**

I stood upon one of the bigger chandeliers in the casino while making my escape. As I landed onto the next one, I suddenly heard voices.

'Good. Now get running!' A boyish voice chimed in.

'This is our only chance!' Another voice said.

'Stay calm! You can get away now!' A girl's voice added.

I decided to respond.

"Thanks for stating the obvious! It's not as if I wasn't running already!"

'No back talk, mister!' She said.

"Sorry!" I said back to her.

Another girl's voice responded instead.

'We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end.'

Before I could respond, a unknown transmission interrupted me.

'...suspects...not….confirmed...hold...your...positions…'

'Hm…? What was that…?' The first girl said.

"Sounds like trouble." I said to her.

'Don't worry about us. Just concentrate on getting away!' The boyish voice from before told me.

"Roger."

I began to move from platform to platform.

'But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move.'

"I hope they got my good side." I cheekily added in.

'Mwehehe. Fine work as always, Spectre.'

"No probs, M-." Before I could finish however, the suits had caught up to me.

"THERE HE IS!"

Uh-oh.

"RUN AWAY!" I yelled as I kept moving, jumping from the platforms to reach a higher gambling floor area. But they had already arrived as well.

"Stop right there!"

"You can't get away!"

Two suits had reached me and revealed their true form.

 **Shadows.**

One had also arrived behind me as if expecting to ambush me.

"You're not very clever, are you guys?" I said as I jumped into the air landing on the one behind me.

'Take 'em down, Spectre!' Another girl on my team cheered.

"You know it. Now, I'll reveal your true form!" I said as I ripped the shadow's mask off, transforming it into the "Sacrificial Pyrekeeper."

'Comparing power levels… No Threat. Get 'em, Spectre!'

"Good to know. Let's go!" I ripped my mask off, and from the depths of my soul, arrived a silhouetted figure behind me.

" **Eigaon!** " Cursed energy shot towards my enemy and sent him flooring to the ground. A critical hit.

'Everyone else, head to positions! Use Route B!' Support girl told the team.

"All according to plan. And for the finale, **BRAVE BLADE!** " The floating figured kicked with all its might, dealing severe damage. I had finished off the lone shadow.

'Ok, pull out before their backup gets there.' She told me.

"No need to tell me twice! And their already here actually!" I told her while avoiding the shadows by jumping onto a nearby platform. Grabbing onto the railing of the next floor close to me, I hoisted myself over it to reach my destination. I went into the door in my nearest vicinity, arriving into the backrooms of the floor.

'You should be able to get out that way! Hurry!'

'Dude, can he even hear us!?' Another boy on my team asked.

"Are you deaf my dude? If not, just go and focus on the plan." I told him in a condescending tone.

'Don't worry, I'm picking up everyone's voices. Just go, Spectre!' Support girl said.

"Third time's the charm, huh..." I whispered back as I made my way through the floor avoiding the suits.

'Tch! Don't give me shit right now man. We got away from a bunch of those guys in black, but there are still loads more of 'em…' Rude sounding boy responded back.

"Complain later. Sneak now." Rude boy groaned.

I entered another room with glass windows and quickly crouched down against the wall as a suit came by.

"Where'd they go!? Damn it!" The suit put his hand towards his ear.

"I can't confirm the intruder's location." The suit ran in another direction away from me, letting me move on.

Before I could however…

'Up ahead! Stop!' Support girl told me. I looked to one of the suits in my way.

'This is bad! Hide, Spectre!'

I quickly hid back behind something nearby. I quietly swore beneath my breath.

"Shit…"

'You'll never get away if you just keep fighting.' Support girl informed me.

"Way ahead of ya. Sneaking mission, start." I moved from cover to cover and reached the stairs near the suit.

"...Hey, are you sure he came in this way? Hmm? Understood. I will continue the search!" The suit ran past me into the previous rooms.

"Dun dun da dun dun, dada dun dun dunnn." I mouthed as if to congratulate myself as I left cover to run for the stairs.

'Impressive, Spectre.' Support girl added.

'She got the reference.' I smirked inwardly.

'Quit messing around and get out of there already!' The boyish voice yelled, chiding me. I winced in response to the loud voice.

As I reached the higher floors, suits crowded the hallways near the stairs. Finding a floor without too much heat, I found myself near a command room of sorts. Moving past it as the people inside were distracted, I found another set of stairs and moved upwards.

Hearing the resounding footsteps of my pursuers, I hurried along and found myself in another room with more chandeliers and people on the bottom floor.

'Something wrong? The exit should be up ahead.' I looked across the room only to see a huge mosaic glass window.

"Looks more like I'm making an exit instead."

'Nnh…! That's just how it is. After that commotion, the bottom floor's completely closed off. Hey, can you make it!?'

"It's not a question of "Can I make it?" ." The suits had reached me as I turned around to face them.

"There's nowhere to run!"

I grinned and climbed atop the floor's railings to make my escape, reaching the exit in no time.

"It's more like "I will make it." !" Covering my head with my arms, I burst straight through the mosaic window glass making a stylish exit.

'What a showoff.' Support girl said.

'You're so reckless. You know that?'

"I try." I told her as I landed. Before I could stand up however, I was in for a last surprise. Countless bright lights turned on, as if to glare at me. I covered my eyes with my right arm to avoid being suddenly blinded. The voices of my team becoming a blur in my mind as my adrenaline spiked as I faced down countless police forces in front of me.

'Enemies, here!? These readings… It can't be!'

'What happened?'

'An ambush!?'

'Spectre, can you handle this!?'

'Spectre!'

"Handling it!" I yelled and started running to my left.

"CAPTURE HIM!" And with that command, the police rushed forth.

I screamed inwardly.

'ShitshitshitshitshitshitshitOHSHIT!' I ran as fast as I could and saw a ladder. I jumped with all my might and hoisted myself up to climb it as quickly as I could. Before I could reach the end however… the police had already anticipated my actions.

They were waiting for me at the end of the ladder. One of them knocked me down with the butt of their gun before I could react.

"FUCK ME-AHHHHH!" I fell to the ground with a resounding 'Ugh' echoing my pain. The police surrounded my vicinity and secured me to the ground.

Someone walked towards me.

"Suspect secured." Someone said.

"Didn't expect to find some kid." The person walking crouched down before me.

"You have your teammate to thank for this." He then grabbed my head and hat, lifting them up.

"You were sold out."

Looking past him, I could a see figure. A figure I didn't expect at all.

I could only whimper out in response.

"...No… Way…" The man stood up and walked away.

"Suspect confirmed. Cuff him."

"Rrrgh! I have the right to remain sil-!" I tried yelling before I was conked in the head. My vision faded and I could only see darkness.

* * *

Before I fully regained my senses, my mugshots had already been taken.

Trying to open my eyes I could only hear footsteps walking towards my direction. On the floor I could see an empty syringe. My head hurts like absolute hell.

'What the fuck did they do to me…?'

Everything feels like I'm wading through mud. I realize I'm tied to a chair with my hands cuffed behind it.

"Guess the drug was too strong… Wake him up!" The man said.

Water was splashed onto me. Some of my faculties and senses returning as I opened my eyes. I found myself in a room with a camera and three men. The one walking towards me with an especially uncaring stare.

"No dozing off." He told me.

I tried to struggle a bit but no luck. The cuffs were tight.

"You still don't get it, do you? Just give it up!"

"Augh!" He kicked me off the chair into the ground.

"Nngh… You… asshole!" He pressed his foot onto my head.

"Quite the mouth on you. C'mon, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?" I shot a defiant look while looking past him. He noticed this.

"Huh? What about the camera? You thinking it can used as video evidence?" He crouched onto a knee and grabbed what he could of my hair, lifting me up.

"I'm not an idiot you asshole..."

He slammed my head into the ground with a resounding thud and kicked me in the stomach.

"Keep that smart mouth talking! We'll see how far it gets ya."

I coughed hard. As I wheezed in breaths of air, he moved away from me to grab a clipboard from one his buddies.

"Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons… Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works. To think that all those crimes were led by a punk like this… And you seem to be enjoying every second of it… Huh?"

'What is he… talking about…?' I thought. My mind's hazy. I can't remember things correctly...

"I have… the right… to remain silent…" I wheezed out.

"...You should know your place." The man made a motion and his buddies uncuffed me. My arms felt sore from being cuffed as I rubbed my wrists.

"Sign here." The man held in his hand a document on a clipboard towards me.

"It's a confession under your name."

I read the document quickly.

'I don't remember any of this… But I don't want pass to out again…'

"Fine... Gimme a pen."

He pulled one of out of his suit pockets and inched his face real close to mine.

"Don't expect to walk outta here in one piece. We're going to make you understand… One must take full responsibility for their actions..."

'The nerve of this bastard…!' I angrily thought.

"...I know that better than anyone." I told him, looking straight at his eyes as I grabbed the pen from him. I signed the confession with my name and handed it to him.

'Johnny Murakumo.'

* * *

A woman with gray-brownish hair and a black business suit walked down a hallway seeing an officer and a detective at her destination. The detective blocked her path.

"Excuse me, but this area's off-"

"I'm Niijima from the Public Prosecutors Office." She said.

"The Prosecutor's Office? What business do you have here?" The detective asked in a condescending tone.

Niijima had a irritable look after hearing that.

"Just let me through; it's urgent. There's something I need to confirm with the suspect." She told him in a firm voice.

"Niijima, I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction. Besides..."

A man arrived from behind Niijima. An older detective.

"Are you Prosecutor Sae Niijima? There's a call from your director. Hurry and get it over with. To be frank, you're being an inconvenience." He told her.

Sae's smartphone vibrated from within her pockets. She answered it, hearing a loud sigh from the SIU Director.

'I thought I ordered you to stand by.'

"I'm responsible for this case, yet I'm not even being allowed an interrogation!?" She told her director in a somewhat angry voice.

'I'm calling because I knew you'd bring it up.'

"I will not be convinced unless I confirm it for myself." With another sigh, the director relented.

'Good luck to you then. I won't be expecting much though...' He ended the call and Sae put her phone back into her pocket.

The older detective decided to speak again.

"Ah, Prosecutor. I forgot to mention something important. Your time will be cut short. We can't permit you to talk with him for long."

Sae turned her head and gave out a loud sigh, as if expecting this response.

"..."

"It's for your own sake. His methods are unknown. After all, we don't even know if it's safe to simply meet and speak with him."

"...I understand." She turned and proceeded into the room guarded by the uniformed officer.

* * *

I had my arms crossed upon the table as I heard the door open to see a woman in a business suit walk in. I tried to avoid eye contact and saw my crumbled school cap on floor. I grabbed it and aired it out before I put it back on my head, facing forward. The woman had already sat in the chair opposite of me as I returned to my previous sitting position.

"...I didn't expect it'd be you. You'll be answering my questions this time." She told me in professional tone. She turned her head and made a face as if she saw something disgusting.

"Those bastards…"

'Probably the syringe…' I thought.

She leaned forward.

"Can you hear me? It seems you've been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here… and I can't stop them." She leaned back and crossed her arms.

"That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either." She decided to change her tone to a softer one.

"What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution."

"Heh." She didn't like that. Her tone became firmer.

"It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."

I decided to respond.

"If you could figure it out, I would've been in here much earlier…"

"True." She softened again.

"There's no way I could be convinced of such a… "world" just by reading the reports. It seems you're coherent."

"...Just barely. You're friends are at fault for that..."

"Don't blame me for something out of my control. Now, when and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Tell me your account of everything."

"...You mean it?" I asked her as I looked up straight at her eyes.

"...Start from the very beginning." She confirmed.

"...Alright… Just let me think real hard…"

Before I could start recalling my memories, I heard the sound of a song I could faintly remember. Along with the fluttering of a blue butterfly appearing before my sight and a voice I couldn't recognize.

 ** _(The Poem of Everyone's Souls)_**

"...You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none."

'That's encouraging…' I thought depressingly.

"But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…"

'So I do have a chance…'

"...I beg you. Please overcome this game… and save the world…"

'..."Save the world?"... Ain't you asking a bit much of a bastard like me?'

"The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds. The truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day… when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of your world's future… as well as your own… you must remember..."

'I'll try my best.' I responded within my own thoughts. As I did so, everything turned white as I began recalling the beginning of everything. That day on the subway.

* * *

"Ah!" I woke up to sudden shaking of the subway train. I looked around to see not that many people around me.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line. Please transfer there for all subway rides. The doors to your left will open." The subway speaker announced.

'Almost there huh…' I thought to myself. I began to fall into my memory of that day. Of how I found myself in my current situation.

 _I saw a woman being assaulted by a drunk man._

 _She said "Please, help!" to me._

 _I wasn't going to just let this drunk have his way._

 _I put my hand on the drunk's shoulder to give him a light shove._

" _Hey, leave the woman alone!" I told him._

 _He then swung his arm at me and fell from losing his balance. He ended up with a gash on his head._

" _...Aw shit…" I muttered, realizing now that I've become the assaulter._

 _The man covered his head to somewhat stop the bleeding. Eyes full of anger._

" _Damn brat… I'll sue!"_

 _Before I could even have a chance to process my thoughts, I was already being arrested and shoved into a police car._

I shook myself out of my memories and listened to some gossipers on the train.

"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?"

"It's the truth!"

"To a person though? That's gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don't you?"

"Gossiping and giggling about someone having a shutdown? Do they have no respect for the dead? Sheesh…" I muttered under my breath.

I've been hearing about those mental shutdowns a lot since I came to Japan a year ago to study abroad and get life experience living on my own. Nowhere can I find a place where I won't hear people gossiping about it. Then again, I've found people here to be quite the gossipers in public compared to America.

'At least people have the decency to do that in private places.' I added into my train of thought. I didn't want to hear any background noise so I decided to put on the headphones hanging from my neck and plug it into my phone as I exited the subway train and heading into Shibuya to transfer.

'I'll put on "Burn my Dread". It's been awhile.'

 ** _(Burn My Dread)_**

While walking through the streets of Shibuya listening to music, I was browsing twitter for the usual memes and jokes while constantly checking my navigator for directions. Then, I looked up to see I had reached the fabled Shibuya Crossing, with tons of people in the area crossing the streets.

'This place is way bigger than the small town I was living at… I think it beats Austin by miles.' Thinking back to my life in Texas.

Looking back down to my smartphone, I saw a strange eye looking app icon appear on my navigator and suddenly fill my screen.

"What the…? Some sort of spyware app? When did it install this?"

I tried pressing my screen but nothing seemed to happened. Soon though, things began to change around me. Sounds and people slowed to a crawl, as if they had stopped.

"What the hell? Did someone just stop time?" I wondered aloud. I looked around only to see my predicament become more of a reality to me.

"This is some sort of joke, right-?" I said to no one before I looked forward to see blue flames in the distance form a figure. I saw vision of myself with yellow eyes grinning madly.

Before I knew it, time had resumed and people were crossing again.

"...I must be tired from the trip. Now I'm hallucinating. Stupid spyware…."

I held my finger against the app on my phone and tossed it into the trash bin for deletion and headed to my subway transfer.

I sang a bit beneath my breath.

"I will burn my dread…"

* * *

 **4/9**

 **Saturday**

"Yongen-Jaya. This is Yongen-Jaya." The subway system announced.

"I'm here." I exited the subway line and headed up the escalator to my destination.

As I arrived to the backstreets my navigator told me to go to, I found the street surprisingly packed. It never fails to amaze me how Japan has so many places to go in such compact residential areas.

'I might check out that secondhand shop on my left at a later date. I really hope Mom was able to send me some necessities at the address. I only really brought the stuff I had in my old place that I already brought over from America. I hope my desktop and consoles are okay.' I was overthinking things as usual and lost myself in my thoughts. I shook my head and focused myself.

"Okay, so I'm going to be living with a Sojiro Sakura. I need to find his house around here."

I walked around the streets looking at the various places they had here. A local market, a closed theatre, and an apartment complex. I turned to my right to find an alley and found a large house with a delivery truck next to it along with the supposed delivery man. On the nameplate of the residence was Sakura so I was at the right place. I rang the doorbell.

 ***ding dong***

But nobody came.

"No one's home huh."

"Yeah. Usually Sakura's at his cafe around this time." The delivery man said to my outloud thought.

"Cafe?"

"Yes, it's called Leblanc. It should be in another alley back the way you came. I've already made a delivery there for some electronic stuff so I won't wait and deliver the other things for him another time. Got other deliveries to make."

'Electronic stuff? Must be my things, but why have it delivered at his cafe?'

I walked back the way I came to find another alley like the man said on my left and saw the sign for the cafe.

" 'Coffee & Curry Leblanc?' Maybe I'll get to have free coffee." I entered the cafe.

Inside I found a very rustic cafe with a homely atmosphere. It wasn't like a Starbucks you could find anywhere. It was an honest to good coffee shop with coffee beans in jars stacked and labeled on shelves meticulously. I saw a man that could look like real life Daisuke Jigen from Lupin the 3rd sitting down in an apron reading a newspaper while an elderly pair of customers were sitting at a table. The TV was blaring in the background with one of those tabloid channels on.

"How frightening." Said the elderly man.

"What could be going on? Didn't something similar happen just the other day?" Said the elderly woman.

Meanwhile, the Jigen clone with glasses was busy muttering to himself doing a crossword.

"Vertical is… the name of a shellfish used for farming pearls…"

I decided to answer him.

"That should be 'Oyster' right?"

The man looked over to me with a surprised look while filling in the crossword.

"That's right, thanks- wait." He looked at date on the newspaper as if realizing something.

"...Oh, right. They did say that was today." He put down the newspaper behind on the bar counter and stood up.

The elderly couple stood up as well.

"We'll be going now. The payment is on the the table."

"Thanks for coming."

"This place is in the back alley, so there's no worries of a car crashing in here." The elderly man said off-handedly.

Jigen clone seemed surprised at the comment.

"A what now?"

"There's been a string of those rampage accidents, you know. I just hope that none happen around here." The elderly man said.

"It's none of my concern." Jigen replied sternly.

"Haha, we'll see you next time." The elderly duo went towards the exit as I scooted out of their way.

Jigen clone groaned loudly.

"...Four hours for just a single cup of joe. So, you're Johnny?"

"Yes sir, if you're Sojiro Sakura then thank you taking me in." I replied formally.

"Yeah. I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh?"

"Unruly kid…? That how mom described me huh…" I felt a bit hurt over that statement.

"You're lucky I'm an old friend of your mom. She contacted me as soon as- Well, not that that matters… Follow me."

I followed Sojiro up the stairs of his shop to find the definition of a disastrous and messy room. It was as if I stepped into a rustic garbage can. It was very spacious though.

"This is your room. Hmm? You look like you wanna say something."

"It's… a fixer upper."

"That's all on you."

"I'm fine with that, sir. By the way, did my and the stuff from my mom get here?" I asked nicely.

"Yeah, the stuff your mom sent is in that box near the bed. The stuff from your previous residence is right there near the couch. Be grateful that I was careful putting everything up here. I've also provided you with sheets for your bed."

"I appreciate it, sir."

"I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble." Sojiro told me in a stern parental voice.

"Noted." I nodded in affirmation.

"Now then… I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you. Right?"

I pulled my cap down to hide the resignation to my situation.

"That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?"

I stayed silent.

"...And now that you've got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. There was talk of having you sent back to the States, but the courts overruled that decision and ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your mother approved of."

'Damn it, do I have to get this shit right now?' I thought.

"In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass. It's best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted."

I let go of my hat and decided to speak.

"...I'm still surprised they left me off with probation. I was sure with the way everything went in the court, I was going to go off with a sentence much worse."

"It's a miracle your defense lawyer was able to do that. Remind me to ask you for that Fey woman's Law Firm. Anyways, cause any problems, and you'll be sent straight to juvie. We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow."

"That's my school, right?"

"Right. Shujin Academy. We'll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There's rarely a place that'll accept someone like you, you know. Ugh, what a waste of my sunday." Sojiro then left downstairs.

I went towards the cardboard box near the bed in the corner. Packed inside were clothes and necessities.

'Like mom promised. I have to thank her via Line later… Time to change out of this uniform since I'm not going today like I expected to.'

I changed into my casual clothes for the cold months. Brown leather jacket, white shirt, and grey jeans with some nice sneakers. I looked over the junk piled everywhere and decided to use the rest of the day for something constructive. I stretched my arms out.

"Let's get this room clean."

* * *

I worked on cleaning the room well into the evening after learning where I could take out the trash from Sojiro. It happened to be near a bath house and a dry cleaners so I'll be able to clean my clothes and take a bath when I need to. I put the box mom sent me onto a shelf near the stairwell. The room looked way cleaner and organized than before, but the stuff from my previous place such as my PC and stuff were untouched near the couch. It's late so I'll have to get to setting everything up another time.

Sojiro came up as I was taking a breather.

"What the heck? You really did clean up everything well up here." He took a look around as if inspecting the place.

"Actually, the place doesn't look too bad. Though it's only natural you'd want to keep your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed for tonight? You don't have anything better to be doing, right?"

"...You're not wrong." I answered tiredly.

Sojiro nodded.

"I'm going to close up shop and get out of here myself. I won't be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?"

"Wait. You wouldn't happen to have Wi-Fi here, would you?"

"Yes, actually. It's for private use, but since you're going to be living here, I'll give you access so you don't have to spend your money at some Internet Cafe. It wasn't set-up by me so put this on a note somewhere in case I happen to forget the password. Network is Leblanc and the password is "wakaba23" with zeroes replacing the a's." I inwardly screamed in joy as I put the info on a note on my phone. Free Internet.

"Thanks, night Mr. Sakura."

"Later, kid." We waved each other goodbye before he went downstairs and locked the shop up. I changed into my night clothes, turned off the lights, and went over to lay on my bed to think over things. But suddenly my phone pinged.

"It's probably mom…" I took my phone out of my pocket and looked to see not a message from my mom, but the same spyware app from earlier.

"Again? What the hell man… Is it like some sort of trojan? Damn, I don't want to have to pay to get my phone to be formatted…" I promptly deleted the app again and quickly went into Line to send a message to my mom.

'I made it, mom. Mr. Sakura seems like a cool guy, but a bit rough. Well, good night. I'm tired.'

My eyelids start to get heavy and I set the phone down next to me with the alarm set for tomorrow and fall asleep.

* * *

I open my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. Blue fabric covers the walls and chains hang from the aforementioned ceiling. The eerie sound of water dripping down fills my ears. I stood up to see my clothing changed to prisoner garb and my hands chained to large cuffs.

I found myself within a cell of some sort.

"...What kind of trip is this? Did I eat something bad on the way to Shibuya? Or this a look into my future…?" I asked myself.

Before I could think of my questions, footsteps came from outside my cell. I saw two little girls dressed in some weird cosplay with eyepatches on. They looked like twins, and had unnerving yellow eyes. Their expressions matched the opposite of the other.

I tried to move closer to them, only to find my left leg chained like my arms to a iron ball. I moved towards the cell door. My vision becoming clearer, I could see someone behind the twins. They moved out of my vision and I saw a man that could've come straight out of a fantasy novel sitting at a desk in the middle of a circular room outside my cell.

He noticed I had my eyes on him and proceeded to introduce himself.

"Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room."

"Velvet...Room?"

"So you've come to, Inmate." The twin on right said.

"The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You're only experiencing this as a dream." The twin on left said.

"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" The right one yelled to me.

I complied immediately as to not provoke her.

"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter. I am Igor. The master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."

'Igor? Like from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?' I wondered. I decided to ask a question.

"What do you mean by "Important matters" ?" I asked.

As if to ignore my question, he looked around.

"Still, this is a surprise… The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a "prisoner" of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."

"Quit the anime bullshit. What the hell do you mean by "Ruin" huh!? What the hell is going on!?" I yelled while shaking the bars of the cell.

The twin on the right smacked my cell with her baton, leaving my ear ringing.

"Shut it, inmate! And just listen to our master!"

My silence answered for me. Igor began to speak once more.

"I speak of the end to everything. However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be "rehabilitated". Rehabilitated toward freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin. ...Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"

"...I don't want everything to end." I answered.

"An adequate reply. Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation." The twins then stood at attention facing forward towards me.

"Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here."

Caroline spoke first.

"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like."

Then came Justine.

"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators. ...That is, if you remain obedient."

Igor decided to end their introductions there.

"I shall explain the roles of those two at another occasion." Justine and Caroline turned to their master.

"Now then, it seems the night is waning… It is almost time… Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…"

With his final piece said, an alarm rang throughout the room.

"Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep." Caroline told me.

"I have had enough of your attitude! Let me out of here! LET ME OUT!" I continued to struggle against the cell bars only for my vision to slowly turn to black.

* * *

 **4/10**

 **Sunday**

"End of THE WORLD! Sono Chi no Kiouku!"

The sound **Ora's** filled my room as I woke up and went to prepare my uniform and get ready. I left the blazer unbuttoned with my white shirt depicting Star Platinum from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure for all the world to see. I put on my old school cap and sat down on my bed for a quick breather and to turn off the alarm on my phone.

"I had the weirdest dream… Ruin, Rehabilitation, End of Everything… It sounds like something straight out of anime. I think I need to get out more." I said to myself.

"Looks like you're up." Sojiro said coming up the stairs to my room. He had a white trilby on.

Now he looks even more like a Daisuke Jigen clone.

'Has my life actually turned into anime…? What karma god did I piss off?' I thought to myself in relation to recent events.

"Well then, let's go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you're attending is in the Aoyama district. It'll cost you a bit to ride the train there without having your pass yet, and the route transfers are a pain. I'll drive you there, but just for today. Let's go."

"Alright. Let me grab my stuff then." I replied.

Sojiro turned and moved towards the stairs.

"Sheesh… Men aren't usually allowed in my passenger seat."

* * *

We made it to the school. Sojiro stopped in front of the gate entrance to lecture me quickly.

"Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right? Don't get me wrong though, I don't care what happens to you. Just don't cause me any trouble." I pulled my cap downwards to hide my eyes a bit.

"Crystal clear, sir." I answered. We entered the school.

'Shujin Academy, huh… More like "Prison" Academy unironically…'

We reached the principal's office to find a very, large man sitting down and a female woman in the room. Sojiro began to sign documents on the desk as they discussed things as I tuned them out. The principal turned his face towards me.

"To reiterate, just so we're clear, you will be immediately be expelled if you cause any problems. Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side… and your academics showed you to be very studious on contrary to the actions that led you here. You might have done a variety of things in hiding in your previous residence, but you will behave yourself here. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind." He said.

"I understand, sir." I replied.

The principal smiled at my answer.

"Good." He turned to the woman next to him. "This is the teacher in charge of your class."

She looked towards me with a look of indifference.

"I'm Sadayo Kawakami. Here's your student ID." She put it on the table. I moved to grab it and put it in my wallet within my pocket. "Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you at all. ...That IS your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?"

"Mmhm. He is responsible for all his actions."

"But really though, why me…? There should've been better candidates."

"It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening."

Sojiro decided to speak up.

"If you're done explaining things, mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to."

The Principal looked at him with a stern look.

"Mr. Sakura, please keep a close eye on him. Don't let him cause any trouble outside…"

Sojiro put his hand behind his neck.

"Well, I'll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he's in."

Kawakami sighed.

"Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I'll show you to your classroom."

"Thank you. I appreciate it, ma'am." I bowed. We left the office and upon arriving near the exit, Sojiro spoke up.

"They're treating you like some kinda nuisance…"

"Well from their perspective, it's not wrong…" I answered with a sigh.

"I guess that's what it means to have a criminal record. Turns out your past follows you wherever you go." Sojiro said while turning a bit towards me. "By the way… if you get expelled now, I won't hesitate to kick you out. Got it?"

"I'll just do what I've always done in school. I'll be extra careful from now on I guess. I don't know if I can become a honor student again though..."

"Hmm." Sojiro looked around for a second and sighed. "School never changes, huh…? Come on, we're going home." He said as I followed him back to the car.

* * *

We ended up stuck in traffic for a while.

"Traffic's not moving at all… You're taking the train starting tomorrow." Sojiro said with an annoyed tone covering his voice. Calming himself down a bit he tried talking more.

"...So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?"

"It'll be easy. School was never that tough. Just talking to others and rumors is going to be the tough part…"

"That so… Well just listen up. Don't even think of doing anything stupid. Still, you were expelled once already. To think you'd re-enroll at a different one. It's not like anyone will be sympathetic with you."

"I know."

Sojiro shook his head.

"...If that's what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too… What a troublesome kid I've taken in…"

Ouch.

I decided to put my hat over my eyes again and decided to take the chance to ask Sojiro.

"Then… why did you take me in? Because of mom?"

"Yeah. I owed her a favor from another time… I couldn't exactly say no. I've already been paid for it too, after all." He answered.

The newscaster started saying stuff about subway derailments but I decided to ignore the rest and take a nap on the way home.

* * *

It was evening by the time we came back to Leblanc.

"Damn, to think there'd be that much traffic… What a waste of time. I wasn't able to open the cafe today…" Sojiro said.

I felt bad. This cafe was probably his livelihood after all.

"I'm sorry." I said facing him.

"... Whatever. Just head upstairs. There's something I need to give to you."

As we headed upstairs, Sojiro read aloud some news from his phone.

"Talk about a gruesome accident… Eighty people were involved." Inwardly I hoped the people were alright. If any of them had died, rest in peace.

Sojiro put back his phone into his pocket and took out a booklet.

"It's a diary. Make sure you write in it." He threw it onto the nearby table. "You may be under probation, but there's no special limitations on what you do in particular. Besides following the law, that is. However, I'm obligated to report on you, which is why I'm having you record your daily activities." Sojiro's phone rang so he turned and took the call.

"Hey, what's up? … I'm about to leave right now. Don't worry. I'll be there in no time. ...Uh-huh. I'll see you soon." He hung up and turned to me.

"Well, I'm off. I'll lock the place up, so do whatever you want for the rest of the night. Oh, but don't mess up my store. If something goes missing, I'll hand you right over to the cops. You got school tomorrow… You better head off to bed, all right?" Sojiro left. I went towards the desk he left the diary on and picked it up. I decided to write what he told me to write about and go to bed. Before I could however, a phone was ringing from downstairs. I decided to pick it up and see who it is.

"Yo, it's me."

"Mr. Sakura?"

"Yeah uhh… I closed up the shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to CLOSED. It's too much of a hassle for me to go back, so you flip the sign for me."

"Got it."

"Well, I'm sure no one's gonna come, even if it says OPEN. Thank goodness, I was able to reach you. Sorry. I make it a habit not to save guys' number on my cell phone. Anyway, I'm glad you answered the phone over in the shop."

"It's no problem. I'll be sure to turn the sign right now. Night, Mr. Sakura."

"Night." I hung up and went outside to flip the store sign and went straight back in.

I walked upstairs to my room and took the time to change into my sleeping clothes while heading to bed.

While laying down, I gathered my thoughts for tomorrow.

"Remember, Yongen-Jaya, Aoyoma-Itchome, and then Shibuya. From there it's just head to school. Easy, right?" I decided to browse my phone while reading the messages my mom sent me over Line. I sent her a goodnight only to see the app there yet again.

"That's it. Deleting you again and then restarting my phone. Goodnight." I deleted the app and set my phone to restart. I set it near me and decided to call it a night.

My eyelids start to become heavy.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading. It's been awhile since I've actually written this much even if it's a lot of stuff just from the game. There's not exactly a transcript of Persona 5.**

 **Please visit this trash can again whenever chapter 2 rolls by.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: If anyone want's a more descriptive idea of Johnny's outfits, let me know. Since I've been vague about it unless someone want's it. I'll clear up some things now for his currently revealed ones.**

 **The hat he wears is something of a memento (Lol Mementos). It's an old Japanese school cap reminiscent of Raidou Kuzunoha's but it's non-descript since it has no school associated symbol on it. He always wears it and even sleeps with it if he forgets to take it off. The cape from his Phantom Thief costume covers only the upper half of his torso down to his waist from the left side. Think of the capes Ezio wears from Assassin's Creed. (I need to fix that 'right side' thing from Chapter 1's beginning as well as change the shirt and tie colors.)**

 **Lastly the suit he wears is unbuttoned. Enjoy the chapter, that's all I had to say.**

 **bold skills here**

 _italics flashbacks here_

'insert thoughts or comm communication here'

 _ **bold italic confidant/persona speak here**_

 _ **(insert music here)**_

* * *

 **4/11**

 **Monday**

"Anime Ja Nai! Anime Ja Nai! Anime Ja Nai! Anime Ja Nai! Honto no koto saaaaaa!"

I woke up with big yawn as I scrambled to try and find my phone at the side of my bed to turn off the alarm. My eyes were filled with the typical sleep gunk preventing me from opening my eyes all the way at the moment. Rubbing the gunk out, I grabbed my phone to take a look at the time.

'Early Morning still huh. I didn't oversleep.'

I went downstairs to see if Sojiro had opened up the cafe yet. Thankfully, he wasn't here yet so I quickly got into the bathroom to brush my teeth and clean myself up for school. After all my preparation was done, I looked at the mirror over the sink to take a look at myself.

My facial hair had come in earlier than most, so I had to start shaving a bit around the lower half of my face. Nothing felt better than a good shave once I started getting the hang of it. I looked towards my head. Short hair as usual that I cut myself every once in awhile. Though I noticed my hair had bits graying all over. A sign of the genetics from my mom's side.

'I'm gonna have to start dyeing my hair before I'm 30… Thanks mom.' I quickly thought with exaggerated groans and a downtrodden facial expression.

I exited the bathroom with business done and went upstairs to get myself into uniform. Finishing off with putting on my school cap which I had left next to my phone. I put my wallet and phone inside my pockets and my headphones inside my school bag as I slung it over my shoulder and headed downstairs again to find Sojiro having opened up shop. I smelled something good in air.

"Morning, Mr. Sakura." I said as I greeted him over the counter. I saw a plate of something with rice and a glass of water. He greeted me back.

"Morning Johnny. You actually going to school?"

I was confused by that answer.

"Yeah. What else would I be doing?" I replied. He gave me thoughtful look on his face before he shrugged it off.

"...It's nothing. Anyways, here. Eat up. Just make sure to finish it before the customers start coming in." He said motioning me to sit down. I took a seat.

"What is it? It smells good but I can't say I've ever had this dish…" I asked honestly while sitting at the counter.

"You haven't had curry before?" He answered with an astonished look.

"So this is the fabled curry… Well, nothing ventured. Nothing gained. Thank you for the food." I quickly dug into the plate of curry and rice. Immediately, my mouth was filled with sensations and complex flavors I couldn't ever properly describe.

It was amazing.

"Holy crap! It's so good!" I yelled in between spoonfuls. I couldn't stop putting it in my mouth. Innuendos aside, I gobbled it up quickly and finished it with the cold glass of water and burp.

Sojiro gave me a genuine smile for once at the compliments.

"Thanks. Now get going. You don't want to be late now. By the way, make sure to flip the sign to OPEN for me alright, yankee?"

"Got it. Have a good day, Mr. Sakura!" I quickly left the cafe while waving goodbye to Sojiro and flipping the sign of Leblanc's to open while quietly muttering something under my breath before I realized what he called me.

"I just hope I don't get lost- wait, did he say 'yankee'? So not cool. I'm Japanese-American for heaven's sake… I'm just taller than the average 17 year old."

I sighed and made my way over to the subway line to transfer over to Shibuya and then Aoyama-Itchome.

* * *

I had gotten a taste of the true Tokyo subway. Unlike when I first made it to Shibuya, It was fucking packed in that tiny car. It made me anxious as all hell. The newscasters didn't help at all in distracting me.

'I think I bumped into someone while it was moving. I almost wanted to scream that I couldn't breathe from no personal space. I'll just have to get used to it, but I need to make sure I can grab a seat next time. Standing sucks definitely.' I said to myself while riding up the escalator to Station Square. The other way to the Ginza line to Aoyama-Itchome had been closed for cleaning.

Seeing the crowded streets of Shibuya once again was mesmerizing, but ultimately boring as people passed me. Their faces becoming ultimately a part of the scenery. I asked for directions to the Ginza line and was pointed into the right direction to the Teikyu Building. I found the gate and made my way to Aoyoma-Itchome. The line took a bit, but I finally made it. Only to find when I went up the escalator for it be raining.

"Aw man. Just my luck for it to be raining and not have an umbrella!" I quickly covered my head with my arms as I ran for cover from the rain. I decided to take a look at my phone.

'I'm still early for school, thank god.'

But before I could catch a breath, the app that's plagued me since coming to Tokyo appeared on my phone once again. I fixed my hat over my eyes to hide my annoyance over this. Before I could do anything, someone had come to hide from the rain next to me.

A girl in a hoodie. Once she took it off, she revealed he twin tailed brownish blonde hair and light blue eyes. She took a look around and saw me looking at her and smiled.

'Crap. I don't know how to respond to that!' I quickly turned my head and tightened my cap even further over my eyes and said the first thing that popped into my mouth.

"Good grief." Thankfully, she didn't pay attention really to me after that. Before I knew it, a car decided to stop near us though with the driver unfurling their windshield. I saw a man with mop head hair within talk to the girl.

"Good morning. You want me to give you a ride to school? You're gonna be late."

"Um, sure. Thank you." She replied and went over to the car. The man looked to me as well.

"Do you need a lift too?" He asked. I gave a look of surprise and motioned a "no."

"Uh, nah. Thanks though." Before they left however, I noticed something.

A look on the girl's face that I've seen before. I didn't know what to make of it as they left, but it definitely wasn't good. I heard someone running in the rain as they feet splashed against the sidewalk and stopped near me. A boy with blonde hair and his blazer open like myself.

"Damn it… Screw that pervy teacher." He said with annoyance in his voice.

"Wait. Pervy teacher?" I said outloud. The boy turned to me. I didn't notice that my phone was doing things without my knowledge of it. The boy decided to enter my personal space rudely.

"...What do you want? You plannin' on rattin' me out to Kamoshida?" He said with an unfriendly voice.

"Whoa. Firstly, personal goddamn space. Second, do you mean that dude in the car?" I told him as I backed up a little to let myself breathe. He gave a questioning look at me.

"Huh? Whaddya mean "that dude in the car"? That was Kamoshida." His face scrunched up. "He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is, the king of a castle? Don't you agree?"

It was my turn to get annoyed.

""The king of a castle?" Okaaay. I'll be blunt. I don't know what the heck you're talking about."

He looked surprised.

"Huh? Wait. You don't know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You're from Shujin, right?"

"I'm a Transfer student." I answered.

"Ohhhh. And second-year too, huh… So we're in the same grade then. No wonder you don't know him. Sorry for getting all on your case man." He gave a sincere look.

I smiled.

"No problem. Hey, shouldn't we get going? This rain isn't as bad as before. I don't wanna be late on my first day." He nodded, but before he could say anything a headache passed through me.

"Ugh…!?"

"Ngh…!?"

It was a weird light-headed feeling.

"Uuugh, my head hurts… Damn it… I wanna go home…." Blonde boy groaned out.

"...You felt that too?"

"Yeah… Weird, right? C'mon transfer student. I know a shortcut to the school." He motioned me to follow him and complied. He seems like an okay guy.

Albeit, rude.

* * *

I was looking at the table while gripping my hat. I faced the woman who was asking me to recall my tale. She began to talk.

"...There was a terrible subway accident that day. You remember it, don't you? I assume you know of the uproar that the public calls the "psychotic breakdown incidents." "

"...Yes. I didn't try to pay attention to it as much when I first arrived in Tokyo, but as time went on I learned more about them." She sighed at my answer.

'Probably not exactly what she wanted to hear.' I thought.

"Don't be coy with me. It was all over the news, and one of the victims included a teacher at your high school. I've no doubt you heard about it. On that day… were you still an "ordinary" student?"

I decided to give her a vague but honest answer.

"...For all intents and purposes, yes and no." She crossed her arms.

"...Let me change the question. You transferred to Shujin Academy, correct?" I nodded. "An ordinary prep school that could be found in any city… That's what it should've been." Her face focused.

"What happened around that time? Tell me everything, truthfully."

I pulled my hat down to cover my eyes as I gave her an answer.

"You're seriously going to call me crazy after this though."

* * *

As I followed the blonde boy from before down the alleys to school I felt weird still from the earlier headache. It wasn't until I heard him make a surprised noise did I know I wasn't wrong about my feeling.

I exited the alley to find him and myself looking at a goddamned medieval castle.

"We didn't… come the wrong way though… Yeah, this should be right." We both turned behind us and back front trying to make sense of things.

"I think the more pressing issue is… What is a european castle doing in Tokyo?"

"What's going on here? I guess we'll just have to go and ask."

"Do you mean go inside the castle!?" I asked exasperatedly. He reacted the same as well. "Do you see anyone else around other than us!?"

I groaned loudly.

"No… God damn it. What the fuck is going on…?" I decided to follow him into the castle as we entered from the drawbridge gate. As we made it inside the hall interior, for a second I thought I saw what looked like the school interior as we looked around.

"Th-That's weird… Where's the school…?" The blonde boy asked to no one in particular.

"This can't be our school, right?" I asked with a worried tone.

"N-no! This has to be it! I mean, it… should be…" He checked his phone.

"Out of service? Where'd we end up…? The sign was for the school, right?"

"How was I supposed to pay attention to that when we we're looking at a honest-to-god castle!?" Before he could answer, it seemed my yelling attracted something. It looked like a knight with a mask on its face. It was was wielding a sword and huge kiteshield. Blondie spoke first.

"Geez, you freaked me out… Who're you? You a student?" He asked and walked up to the knight.

"Some sort of cosplay?" I wondered out loud.

"Man, your costume is impressive… Is that armor real?" Blondie crossed his arms waiting for an answer. "C'mon, don't just stand there. Say somethin'." Before we knew it however, another knight came into Blondie's personal space. He backed off a bit.

"...H-Hey, what's goin' on?"

"Yeah man. Is the staff pranking students or something?" I asked.

"Dude! I don't know!" One of the knights came real close to Blondie.

Menacingly.

'Oh shit.'

I put up a defensive stance along with blondie.

"...This shit's real." He said.

The second knight moved closer. "C-Calm down! Time out, man!" He looked over to me.

"We gotta run!"

"Where!?"

"I don't know! Just go!" I nodded and ran for the entrance with him. It was too late however. More knights had shown up.

We we're surrounded.

"Ugh, what's with these guys!?" One shield pounded Blondie in the back. "Gah!"

"HEY! Leave him alone, jackass!" I yelled at the knight with fist raised.

"Oww… Y-You're gonna break my bones, damn it! The hell you think you're-Aagh!" The circled in on us.

"F-FUCK OFF DAMN IT! LEAVE US ALONE-Guh!" I felt something hard hit me in my head. My vision darkened.

"Take them away!" A voice said before I blacked out.

* * *

I couldn't see anything. I didn't know what was going on until I heard a familiar voice.

"...Hey. Hey! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes to find myself on sort of wooden furniture and blondie kneeling in front me. I pushed myself up and began to sit on the furniture. Before us was a locked cell. I thought I was dreaming again.

"Ugh… why do I keep waking up in a cell in my dreams…?"

"Hey, you alright man? This ain't no dream." He asked while answering my question.

"...Damn. So that wasn't a dream. I'm fine, just got a bit of headache. One those shitheads hit me in head. How about you?" I told him.

He stretched his arms a bit.

"Yeah, more or less." He faced the cell's direction.

"Ugh, what's goin' on!?" He ran towards the cell door and started banging it.

"Hey, let us outta here! I know there's someone out there!" He walked back to me with an annoyed look on his face. "Damn it, where are we!? Is this some kinda TV set…?"

I shot an annoyed look right back.

"How the heck am I supposed to know!? If it is, it's one hell'uva elaborate set!" I said to him. Just then, we heard screams echoing in the background as I stood up surprised from it. We ran to the cell door.

"Th-The hell was that just now…?"

"I don't wanna know."

The screams continued.

"Whoa… Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… You're shittin' me, right…?"

"...Are we screwed?" We turned to each other. Worried looks covered our faces.

We needed to find a way out of here.

"This is real bad…!" He turned around. "Isn't there some way outta here!? C'mon we gotta do something!"

"Right!"

I started by looking at the wall's chains to see attached they were and for signs of rust.

'No luck. Their on there tight.'

I moved to knocking on the walls around us. They were solidly built. No resounding echoes to signify a weak spot. I then went to the wooden furniture I was resting on and looked inside some barrels nearby.

"Nothing! There's nothing we can do!"

"Huh? You hear that?" Blondie said. I stopped to listen.

We heard footsteps moving towards us and saw a group of those knight guys arriving.

"Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is "unlawful entry." Thus, you will be sentenced to death." One of them said to us.

'Death!?'

"Say what!?" Blondie exasperated out.

"Quit screwing with us! Let us out!" I yelled while holding the tip of my hat to try and calm myself.

"No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle." A new voice said as something weird popped into our vision.

A man in robe decorated with hearts and wearing a crown. What surprised me the most was his face. It was the mop head from earlier in the car. But something was strange. His eyes were yellow and glowing eerily.

"Huh? Wait... Is that you, Kamoshida?"

"Why is he wearing that getup?"

He answered us.

"I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto…" He smirked. "Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all, huh?" He looked over in my direction. "And you brought a friend this time… because you can't do anything for yourself."

I really didn't like that smug tone of his.

"This ain't funny, you asshole!" Sakamoto said, pulling the bars in anger.

"Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don't understand the position you're in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me-the king." He blared a nasty grin. "The punishment for that is death."

He scrunched his face and shouted an order to the knights.

"It's time for an execution. Take him out!"

Surprised, we backed away from the cell bars as they came in and surrounded us.

"...God damn it…!" Sakamoto lunged at a knight and pushed him over.

"I ain't down for this shit! C'mon, we're outta here!"

"I'm with ya!"

"You ain't going nowhere-huh!?" Before the knight could close in on Sakamoto, I had gotten ahold of the knight's center of gravity and pushed him down.

'Thank you self-defense lessons!'

"Not fast enough." The last knight in the room clocked Sakamoto in the solar plexus. He fell to a kneel.

"Nnnngh…. Owww…"

"Sakamoto-! Eugh!" The other knights had gotten back up and held me back. "Let me go you tin men!"

"Just go! Get outta here…! These guys are serious!" Sakamoto told me.

"No way in hell am I leaving someone behind to save my own ass!" I yelled back in defiance.

Kamoshida turned to me with his smug grin.

"Oh? Brothers in arms, are we? Well, aren't you just a little hero of justice?"

"He ain't a friend…" Sakamoto coughed out. He yelled once more.

"C'mon! Hurry up and go!"

I clenched my fists. I couldn't move even if he was someone I didn't know that much. It wasn't right to run away like this.

"What's the matter? Too scared to run away?" Kamoshida's face turned neutral. "Hmph, pathetic scum isn't worth my time. I'll focus on this one's execution..." He closed in on Sakamoto while his knights held him up. He reared his fists.

"Take this!"

I could only watch as he beat up Sakamoto. His knights holding me back with a sword to my neck. My eyes darkened under my hat as I grinded my teeth in anger.

"Worthless scum! Trash!" Sakamoto fell and Kamoshida spat on him. One his knights proceeded to throw Sakamoto across the floor.

"Where'd all your spirit go? A peasant like you isn't worth beating." He motioned to one of his knights.

"I'll have you killed right now."

I lost it.

"STOP IT YOU INSANE BASTARD!"

"Hm!?" He turned around to face me. Anger spilling from his voice.

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to me that way!?" He closed in on my face. "That look on your face pisses me off!" He kicked me down against the wall. I hit my head against something and felt blood dripping off the back of my head.

It fucking hurt.

"Hold him there… After the peasant, it's his turn to die." The knights closed in on Sakamoto.

"NO!" I tried to run to him, but the knights held me against the wall. "Argh! Let go! LET GO OF ME!" I struggled but to no avail.

"I-I don't wanna die."

"Hahahaha."

And a voice spoke to me as I saw a blue butterfly appear within my vision.

" _This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…"_

'Damn it…. Not again… NOT AGAIN!' I looked on helplessly as they prepared to execute Sakamoto as rage filled from within.

" _ **What's the matter…? Are you simply going to watch helplessly again as someone dies in front of you?"**_

'Who's there!?'

" _ **Are you forsaking him to save yourself?"**_

'NO!'

" _ **Death awaits him if you do nothing."**_

'YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT!?'

" _ **Then was your previous decision a mistake then!?"**_

The night from a year ago flashed through my mind.

'...No. It wasn't a mistake! It will NEVER be a mistake!' I saw Sakamoto being held up by the neck by a knight. Sword at the ready. I struggled against my captors even harder than before.

" _ **HA! GOOD ANSWER! I have heeded your resolve!"**_

EVERYTHING HURT.

"AUGH! AUUUUGH!"

" _ **Vow to me."**_

WHAT WAS HAPPENING!?

"ARRRRRGH! GAH!"

" _ **I am thou, thou art I…"**_

RED FILLED MY VISION.

" _ **Thou who art willing to perform sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!"**_

I WANTED TO SCREAM.

" _ **Call upon my name, and release thy rage!"**_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

" _ **Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!"**_

My vision cleared to see Kamoshida raise his finger to Sakamoto.

"Execute him!"

I've had enough of this bullshit.

"I'm going to tear you limb FROM LIMB!" I shouted at him to get his attention.

It worked.

"What was that…?" He looked at me with indignation. I gave him a face of defiance and anger.

"You heard me ya slimy bastard. Here's a replay. I'm. Going. TO. TEAR. YOU. LIMB. FROM. LIMB!" I yelled in his face. Spit lining my lips.

"Why you cocky piece of shit! You desire to be killed that much…!? FINE!" He motioned to a knight and felt pain shock my face as they held me against the wall with spears on my neck.

I couldn't open my eyes.

I was going to die.

'At least I gave Sakamoto time to escape as they focus on me...' I heard a sword raise itself.

But…

Somewhere deep inside me…

Didn't want to die.

 ***BA-DUMP***

A sudden burst of air erupted from my vicinity as I opened my eyes.

I felt something on my face. It felt awkward.

Why is it on my face?

It doesn't feel right.

It needs to come off.

I put my hands on my face to feel a mask.

Why is it on my face?

It has to come off.

IT HAS TO COME OFF!

I vigorously pulled against the mask. It was as if someone glued it to my face. Like some cruel joke.

 _ **(Persona 5 OST - Awakening)**_

"GET OFFFFFFFF!" I yelled as I pulled and pulled on the mask. It came off. Red spilling my vision yet again.

But with it off…

"I…" Something was rising.

"Feel…" Power.

" **INVINCIBLE**." POWER.

I grinned like a madman as blue flames covered me all over.

Laughter filled my head.

" _ **Guhahahaha!"**_

Chains appeared to come from behind me as the flames changed my clothing. I wore a black business suit unbuttoned with a red shirt and white tie. An empty belt with holster and pockets hung around my waist. A black cape fluttered behind my left shoulder. Red gloves covered my hands.

"Heh."

The figure in flames standing behind me cleared up. It wore an opposite color scheme of my outfit. Huge claw like hands. It's face nothing but flames to make what seemed to be a face with a dapper hat and horns poking from the sides of it's head. With chains attached to it's limbs.

"Blow them away." I asked it. It's cape fluttered into wings blue and black. Creating a gust of air to knock the knights down. Kamoshida whimpered and crawled away. Sakamoto was in awe.

"Wha… What the…?" He managed to say.

I was too busy feeling high off my new found power, still smiling madly.

 _ **(Persona 5 OST - Will Power)**_

" _ **I am the pillager of twilight-"Arsene!" "**_

"What the…?" Sakamoto whispered.

"So… You're me. And I'm you." I said to Arsene.

" _ **Yes. I am the rebel's soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis."**_

I could only grin in amusement. He already knew my answer but if he desired for me to say it out loud…

"Hell. Yes."

" _ **HA! VERY WELL…!"**_

Kamoshida was standing outside the cell.

"Who the hell are you…?" He asked himself. "Guards!"

His knights stood up.

"Start by killing that one!" He pointed at me.

The knights forms melted into black and red. Turning into new forms entirely. Floating Jack-o-Lanterns holding a lamp.

"You'll learn the true strength of my men!"

I taunted them.

"COME AT ME!" I got into a fighting stance and pulled the daggers from belt. Holding one in each hand.

" _ **Detest the enemies before you! Change that animosity into power… and unleash it!"**_

I focused my rage at one the Jacks and felt words spill out of my mouth as I felt my mask disappear from my face.

" **PERSONA!** " Cursed energy shot towards my target. It was a direct hit. The jacks retaliated but their hits were nothing.

" _ **Swing your blades!"**_

I ran towards the same jack I had attacked, swinging my daggers in ways as if I had practiced with them my entire life. They danced in tandem, slashing at my foe. It disappeared into nothingness.

" _ **This power of mine is yours! Kill them however you want. Run wild to your heart's content!"**_

Power continued to course through me. It was as if I was doped on high performance drugs. I turned to my other enemy. But the look on it's face screamed fear. In its bright yellow eyes I could see my reflection.

It was as if I was a monstrous predator looking at it's prey.

It didn't stand a chance at all before I took it down all the same. Strength filled me as it disappeared. The high finally dying down as my senses regained normality. I took a deep breath before I finally noticed how strange my appearance had changed.

"W-what is this?"

"What was that just now…?" Sakamoto asked me. Kamoshida walked over.

"You little…!" Before he could continue, Sakamoto tackled him down. "Aagh!"

"Hah! You like that, you son of a bitch!?"

'Eloquently put.'

"Nice going, Sakamoto! Get the key and let's split." I told him while pointing at the keys. We left the cells and locked him in.

"Damn you!"

Sakamoto then turned to me.

"Hey…! What was that just now!? And… your clothes…!" Before I could answer, blue flames erupted from me and my clothes reformed into my uniform. "Huh!?"

"Whoa, it went back to normal…!?"

Kamoshida struggled against the bars. Surprising us from our stupor.

"You bastards!" He yelled.

"God, this's effin' nuts! Anyways, let's scarm! You lead the way!"

"Leave it to me!" With that, I started running away as Sakamoto threw the keys somewhere else and followed me.

"Goddamned thieves. After them! Don't let them escape!"

* * *

After crossing over some obstacles and avoiding some patrolling enemies, we found ourselves running up a winding staircase.

"If this goes up, you think it heads to the exit?" Sakamoto asked.

"I don't know, but I'm not willing to wait around and find ourselves in a cell again. I'm done playing prison boy." I told him.

"Same here!" He answered back as we arrived at some double doors and went through. Only to find more of the same scenery.

"Dude… You gotta be jokin'... This ain't the exit!? What the hell is this place!?"

"Shit! Let's just stay calm and keep moving." And so we continued on until we noticed some people screaming in cells from the side and hanging from the ceiling. It was really creepy.

We finally reached a drawbridge. But it was up and I couldn't see anything that looked like a lever nearby to bring it down. It was a dead end.

"Jeez, are you sure you looked man?" Sakamoto complained.

"If you have the time to complain, you have the time to help!" I said right back.

"...Hey, you there. Blondie and the one in the Hat! Look over here!" A voice I heard from a cell nearby. I looked down to see some sort of cat thing struggling against the bars.

"What is this thing!?" Sakamoto yelled.

'Some sort of living mascot?' I wondered.

"You're not soldiers of this castle, right!? Get me out of here! Look! The key's right there." It pointed at the wall with a key hanging from it.

"We're trying to get the hell out of here…! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!" Sakamoto said.

I got annoyed from the sheer idiocy of that statement.

"Dumbass! He's asking for help and is locked in a cell! Have you no tact!?"

The cat thing agreed with my statement.

"What he said! Help me out and I'll help you out!" I didn't need to think about the consequences. I had already made my decision.

I went to grab the keys and let it out of the cell.

"Ahhh… Freedom tastes so great…" It seemed grateful.

"Dude, what the eff'!? We don't even know if it's even telling the truth!"

"I'm sorry but when I hear someone asking for help, I can't help myself! What's the worst thing this cat can do!?"

The cat thing looked a bit mad at my statement.

"Call me a cat again, and I'll make you regret it."

It looked too cute for it to make a threat. I couldn't take it seriously and giggled a bit.

"Grrrr! Quit laughing! You don't want to get caught and executed, right? I never go back on my word. So I'll help you out like I said I would."

"Alright then. So where's the exit you monster cat?" Sakamoto asked rudely.

"Don't call me a cat! I am Morgana!"

"Shaddup and hurry up! You wanna get locked up again!?" He threatened.

"Hey! I didn't agree to that!"

The cat now named Morgana gave a groan.

"Alright, sheesh! Follow me, and stay quiet!" We nodded and let Morgana lead us. It led us to a statue of Kamoshida near the bridge from earlier.

"What're you doing?" Sakamoto asked.

"Whaddya think? Lowering the bridge. Alright, Hat boy. It seems you pick up on things faster than our Blondie over here. Try checking around the mouth of this statue, OK?" It felt nice to be praised for once and nodded.

I went over to statue to look at it more closely. Looking at it's mouth, I found mechanisms that allowed it to be pulled down. There was nothing else of interest to look at.

"Well… Here goes nothing." I pulled my hand on the statue's mouth and pulled it down.

The drawbridge came down!

"I was right about you! Good eye!" Morgana told me.

"Thanks." I had a grin on my face while I rubbed the neck sheepishly embarrassed from the praise.

"How're we supposed to know to do that!?" Sakamoto complained further.

"Hmph, amateur. Come on, let's keep going!"

As we ran across the bridge, luck had finally decided to turn the tables on us. We ran into an enemy.

"A-Aah! Shit… Shit, it's them!" Sakamoto screamed before he fell to the ground. My clothes became enveloped in blue flames again and changed into that outfit from earlier.

"Tch… You amateur!" Morgana chastised as it jumped over him. "Stay still."

Morgana looked over at me.

"Hat! You can fight, right? Let's go!"

"Whatever you say!" I answered as I went into a fighting stance.

"Come. **Zorro**!" Morgana yelled and a pillar of blue energy erupted from him. From it, I could see what could only be what I assumed was his Persona. It literally screamed 'Zorro' with it's design.

Sakamoto could only look on in awe.

"Y-You got one of those things too!?"

Morgana cross its arms.

"Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!" And the enemy erupted the same as other. Transforming into a flying little demon and a Jack-o-lantern from earlier. Morgana pulled out a sabre fitting of his size while I pulled out my daggers.

"Damn Shadows… they've taken up intercept positions! It means they're holding nothing back and are serious about killing us! I'll back you up, so fight like your life depends on it! Let's go!"

"Roger that! **PERSONA!** " I summoned Arsene to shoot a curse shot at the little demon. It did some damage. Morgana giggled in response.

"Hmph, I knew you were an amateur."

"You ain't wrong. Wanna tell me what I did wrong then?" I asked.

"Nah, I'll show you instead. This is how you fight! **ZORRO!** " It summoned its Persona and shot out a gust of wind at the Jack-o-lantern, knocking it down. "Strike at an enemy's weakness to knock them down! Use that opening to strike again! That's the most basic of basics! Remember it well!"

"Logically put. I understand! I'll try to remember what enemies are weak to!" I replied.

"C'mon then, let's hurry and get through this!" Morgana summoned Zorro and finished off the Jack-o-lantern with the same attack as before. The little demon decided to take action now.

"Oh no you don't!" I cut off it's attack and it finished it there with my daggers. The battle was over.

Within my soul, I felt that Arsene has gained more power. It had a new physical attack.

Nice.

"Not bad. Your Persona's pretty powerful." Morgana told me.

"Persona…? Y'mean that thing that comes outta you guys all dramatic-like?" Sakamoto asked.

"Yes. You saw how Hat Boy here ripped off his ripped his mask when he summoned it, right? Well, everybody wears a mask deep within their heart. By removing that…" Before Morgana could finish the explanation, my outfit returned to normal yet again.

"Huh…? He turned back to normal…"

"Hm, it looks like you don't have full control over your power yet. The transformation shouldn't normally dissolve like that. After all."

I nodded.

"Yeah. I only recently awoke to it."

Sakamoto stomped his foot in frustration. Confused over the discussion. He cut in.

"Rrgh, that's enough! This crap doesn't make any sense!"

Morgana jumped in response and chastised him.

"Can't you just sit still and listen for once, Blondie!?"

"Don't call me Blondie! My name's Ryuji…" He yelled.

"Well finally you tell me your name! I've just been here switching from Blondie and Sakamoto!" I yelled right back.

Morgana cut us off before we could continue.

"There's no time for arguing or for me to lecture you! You guys wanna escape this place in one piece, right? Let's go! Oh, but before that… take these. Use them carefully, OK?" It handed me three bottles of some strange Medicine. I put them in my shoulder bag.

"Come on, we should hurry. It's not much farther to the exit." Morgana led us up some stairs further in until we stopped at another drawbridge that was up. Ryuji saw someone he recognized in a cell.

"I feel like I've seen what this dude's wearin' before…" His face darkened. "Damn it! I'm too flustered! I can't remember a damn thing!"

"Come on, let's go!" Morgana commanded.

"Hold on, damn it!" Ryuji said.

"What is it? We need to go, fast!" Morgana replied.

Ryuji's face became downtrodden.

"But… who are these guys?"

"Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now!? Besides, they're-" The drawbridge coming down interrupted the conversation.

"Over there!" Another knight had found us.

Morgana sighed.

"You should've listened to me…!"

"Another fight it is then!"

Morgana looked happy at my response.

"I'm glad you stick your guns." And the knight transformed into little winged women.

"Now it's Pixies…? What the heck is up with this monster variety?" I complained. "Bah. Whatever. Enemies are enemies. **ARSENE!** " Cursed power springs forth, knocking down the one pixie. Using the opening I've made I send another shot at the other pixie. Allowing us to finish them off easily with melee.

It was a short battle.

"All right! Let's get away before more show up!" Morgana cheered.

Ryuji had other ideas, however.

"Hold on, we can't just leave these guys here…!"

I turned over to his direction.

"I understand how you feel man, but we don't exactly have the time to spring a whole dungeon!" I explained.

Morgana agreed.

"He's right. I would like to explain more, but there's no time. If you don't want to follow us, be my guest!" We ran off, leaving Ryuji a little bit behind.

"Damn it… Fine, I'm coming!"

* * *

We finally had left the dungeon area.

"C'mon! The entrance hall is just above these stairs!" Morgana told us. I was ecstatic.

"Nice! I can't wait to get out of this place!" I said in relief. I followed him up the stairs, Ryuji right behind me. Passing through the entrance hall into another hallway. Morgana stopped at some doors.

"We're here!"

Ryuji shared my relief.

"Finally! We're saved…!" Ryuji proceeded over to the door on right, only for it to be locked.

"Hey! D'you trick us, you jerk!?"

I sighed.

"Stop jumping to conclusions!" I complained.

"Wrong door, Ryuji. Over here!" Morgana motioned to the door on my left and we went through. We arrived in a somewhat fancy room with shelves filled with books. Torches dimly lit the room on the walls. I saw our exit immediately above the bookshelves.

"Over there. Where that metal mesh's at is the exit, correct?"

Morgana made a weird noise.

"Mwhehehe. Maybe you aren't so much of an amatuer after all. It's a ventilation shaft alright. You'll be able to squeeze through it one at a time."

"So that's the exit huh… Alright. Let me try and get the mesh off." Ryuji went over to the metallic mesh and grabbed onto it. "And a one and two and uhhaaaahh!"

 ***CRASH***

Ryuji managed to get it over but fell on his ass.

"Oww… Crap! The enemy didn't hear us, did they?" Ryuji's tone became excited. "Seriously, we're finally gettin' outta here…!"

Morgana spoke up.

"You should probably wait on celebrating until you actually get out. So get going!"

"But… what about you?"

"There's something that I still have to do. We're going our separate ways."

'Something you have to do?' I thought. 'I'll worry about that later.'

I crouched down and held my hand out to thank Morgana.

"We appreciate all the help. Be careful, OK?"

Morgana gave a look of confidence and shook my hand.

"No problem. You better be careful too. See ya."

Ryuji was the first one to climb through the ventilation shaft as I followed him, leaving behind Morgana.

"Those two seem useful. Especially the one wearing the hat, if my judgement's right…"

* * *

We were able to escape the castle and find ourselves back at the street we first met. We needed to take a breather. I have no doubt we both felt tired.

Ryuji took some huge breaths before he talked again.

"...Did we make it?"

Suddenly, my phone went off and I pulled it out.

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."

"Huh? Returned…?"

"Real world?"

We both look confused.

"...I think this means we got away." I told him.

Ryuji closed his eyes and returned to his tired look.

"I dunno what to think anymore… What was all that anyways…? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell's going on!?"

"What's with the yelling? Are you students of Shujin?" A voice came from our right. It was two police officers approaching us.

"Crap! We were in there too long!" I whined.

"Cutting classes, are we?" One asked us.

"Huh? No! We were tryin' to get to school, and we-Mmph!" I quickly covered his mouth before he blabbled. I whispered into his ears quickly.

"You idiot! Their not going to believe something like that! Just follow my lead and go along with my bullshit, alright?" He nodded hastily.

"Huh!? What're trying to hide!?" One asked loudly.

"Nothing. I'm sorry officers. My friend had something bad to eat earlier and has been saying weird things all day, don't mind him!"

"Weird things, huh? Alright, hand over your bag. You better have not been doing any drugs."

"Why would you think that!?" Ryuji yelled.

The officers looked to me. "You have anything to say for yourself?"

"No. Let's get going, Ryuji. Their going to contact the staff anyway. Let's not make it any worse on ourselves…" I started walking towards the direction of the school.

"W-Wait for me!"

* * *

We arrived at the school entrance gate. Just as mundane as it was on yesterday. Not a castle.

"Is this for real…? I'm sure we came the same way… What's goin' on here…?" Ryuji pondered outloud.

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you." Said a counselor coming out from the school. "We received a call from the police."

I looked over at Ryuji.

"Told you so." I told him.

"It's rare not to see you alone. Where were you roaming around this time?" The counselor asked.

I decided to speak up.

"I found him passed out on a bench, clutching his stomach. I helped him out to a nearby general practice to get him some medicine. I even have it here for him." I told the counselor as an excuse. I even pulled out one of the medicine bottles Morgana gave me.

"Hmm. It seems you're not lying, huh…" The counselor looked satisfied with my excuse.

"What's this about lying?" A voice said as it approached the counselor from behind him.

It was Kamoshida.

"Kamoshida!?"

'Ryuji, shut up!'

"You seem so carefree, Sakamoto. Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team." Kamoshida said with a neutral look.

'Even this one's a smug piece of shit!?' I shouted in my mind.

"Shuddup! It's your fault that-"

"How dare you speak that way to Mr. Kamoshida!" Yelled the counselor. He sighed. "...There's not much leeway left for you, you know?"

Ryuji raised his fist and threw it to his side.

"He's the one that provoked me!" Ryuji yelled back.

"Do you really want to be expelled? In any case, you'll have to come with me to explain yourself! Follow me!" The counselor replied.

"What!? This is bullshit!"

Kamoshida cut in.

"Come now. I should have been more considerate, too. Let's just say that we were both to blame."

"Well, if you say so… Still, you're coming with me. It's undeniable that you're extremely late no matter the circumstances."

Ryuji resigned to his fate.

"Fine…"

The counselor and Kamoshida now looked over at me.

"By the way… You're that new transfer student, correct? Johnny Murakumo…" Kamoshida said. Meanwhile, Ryuji followed the counselor into the school while glaring at Kamoshida.

"Yes, sir." I answered. Chewing my tongue in response of being respectful to this man after recent events.

"...Have we met somewhere?" Kamoshida asked.

I answered honestly.

"It was back at the station, you were in your car."

"Ah, right. ...Well, I'll overlook your lateness just for today." In my mind, I sighed in relief.

"I'm sure you've heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you'll be expelled. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. At any rate, hurry up and get to the faculty office. Ms. Kawakami's probably tired of waiting." He moved to start leaving before paused to look at me one more time. "Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life."

His intentions for that remark we're plastered all over his face.

* * *

"The school turned into an old castle…?" Remarked the woman questioning me. "A talking cat…?" She looked at me with disdain.

"...Are you hallucinating from an overdose? I won't put up with you if you're simply joking around." She looked over to her watch. "I'm going to have you continue the story."

I nodded in affirmation.

"The one who received a "calling card" from the Phantom Thieves was an Olympic medalist… An alumnus from Shujin Academy-the PE teacher Suguru Kamoshida. It's true that what he did were deplorable crimes from… indulging his desire. He confessed to it all. But there should've been no connection between the two of you since you had just transferred."

"All true facts." I answered.

"Then why did you target him?"

"I won't explain if you keep interrupting me." I calmly replied. Despite being tired of the action.

She slammed her hands against the table and stood up.

"That's unacceptable! Try and recall it! Please!"

"Thank you. I will. Just let me think..." I answered, thinking back to the incident.

* * *

As I made my way to the faculty office, I heard nothing but people gossiping about me already. It seems I was right about the rumors not being shut tight after all.

I sighed and just went my merry way. Ignoring their comments. I finally found the faculty office and entered to find Ms. Kawakami at her desk.

She sighed from seeing me.

"Unbelievable… Being over half a day late on your first day…? Can you explain yourself?" She asked.

"I thought I told that counselor earlier… I helped a Ryuji Sakamoto go to a clinic to get a check-up and meds for his stomach. It took longer than I thought it would, and I didn't want to leave him alone…" I bullshitted to Kawakami. Keeping the story I practiced earlier on the fly.

"Right. We referenced that with Sakamoto and it seems to be in order… But seriously, it's almost lunchtime. You're still way too late."

I bowed and apologized loudly.

"I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"

"Shh! Not so loud geez!" She warned me. "Pull yourself together will you? You were given fair warning yesterday. And being caught out with Sakamoto of all people… You're one of those who can't turn a blind eye to someone in need, are you?"

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head in resignation.

"Just… don't get involved with him, alright? He's nothing but trouble. He wasn't like that when he was devoting his time to track and field though…" She mentioned offhandedly.

'I bet Kamoshida has something to do with that…' I thought to myself.

"...Anyway. Break's almost over. Classes will end after fifth period today because of the subway accident. I'll have you introduce yourself when class resumes. Follow me." She stood up and I followed her to classroom 2D.

She turned to me to give one last piece of advice.

"By the way, when you introduce yourself… Be serious about it even if you're lying to the class, OK? Do NOT say anything unnecessary."

"I got it, I got it…" I told her as we passed more people whispering about me. We entered to classroom to already hear people chattering their teeth off.

"Being super late on his first day? He really is insane…"

"He doesn't look like a foreigner… Just taller than some of the boys and teachers here..."

"But he might slug us if we call him a Yankee though…"

Kawakami shut them up.

"Settle down. Ok… Well I'd like to introduce a transfer student: Johnny Murakumo. Today, he had too… attend to the need of a student who got sick on the way to school and took him to a clinic. He refused to go to school until he knew that student was alright. Now then, please say something to the class."

I gulped. I got into the most formal standing position I knew and bowed to the class.

"I'm Johnny Murakumo! Nice to meet you all!" The class began their chatter again.

"Helped a student to the clinic… maybe he isn't so bad after all."

"But wasn't he arrested for assault? Maybe he's just trying to cover up his image."

'I'm not that shallow!' I screamed inwardly.

"...Uhh, so… Your seat will be… Hmm… Over there. The one that's open near the windows. Sorry, but can the people nearby please share your textbooks with him for today?"

"This sucks…"

I went over to my seat until I heard someone say something.

"...Lies."

"...Who?" I said. I was answered with a scoffing sound. I decided to sit down and heard even more gossip. Apparently the girl in front of me is the one I saw earlier this morning.

They were saying some terrible stuff, but I didn't want to attract attention right now so I kept quiet. It made my blood boil on the inside though. I was able to catch her name.

Takamaki.

'I can tell that this is going to be a long year…' I sighed in my mind while Kawakami talked about a volleyball rally in two days and getting to know each other. Roll call proceeded after that.

* * *

Class had finally ended as I exited the classroom. For a second I hallucinated and saw the hallway transform back into the castle from earlier today. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Kawakami exited the classroom and saw me wincing.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, ma'am. Just a headache..." I answered.

"Hmm… make sure to drink some water then before you head out. Also… it seems like people are already talking about you, but I'm not the one who told them." She sighed loudly. "I can't even catch a break…. Why do I have to deal with this?"

"I don't know how many times I've said sorry today, but again, I'm sorry." I answered.

"It's fine… Anyway. You should head straight home without stopping by anywhere. Mr. Sakura sounded pretty angry."

'Damn. I'm so getting chewed out by him when I get home…'

"Oh, and about Sakamoto. Don't get involved-." Ryuji butted in before she could finish. "Speak of the devil. What do you want? I heard the police caught you cutting classes today."

"I told you already, I ate something bad and had to get help from this guy." He answered.

"And you haven't dyed your hair back to black either…"

'I thought he wasn't a natural blonde.'

"Sorry about that'..." He walked by me and whispered. "...I'll be waitin' on the rooftop." He staged his exit.

Kawakami got the final word in and walked off as well.

"See? That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood?"

I stayed silent was left to my own devices. I left for the rooftop after eavesdropping on a conversation between Kamoshida and the Principal. I'll go see what Ryuji wants and then head home.

* * *

When I reached the rooftop, the door was already unlocked. Outside I found Ryuji leaning on a chair waiting for me. There was some stuff scattered around but it wasn't important.

"...There you are. Sorry for callin' you up here like this. I bet Kawakami already told you stuff like "don't get involved with," huh?"

"And he knocks it right out of the park folks! A Home Run." I said in an MC like voice.

Ryuuji sighed at my antics and answer.

"Figured as much. Then again, we're in the same boat."

"Touche'. So what did ya want to talk about?" I took a seat one of the desks near him.

"I heard you got a criminal record. Everyone's talkin' about it."

"Yeah, and?"

"I'm just saying. No wonder you were so gutsy. And nice move on getting us a cover story before I blabbed us into trouble." Ryuji said with praise. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I've always been a quick thinker." I replied. Ryuji leaned forward to get to real matter at hand.

"...What was all that that happened? You know, how we almost got killed at a castle… It wasn't a dream… right? You remember it too, yeah?"

"I'm not exactly too keen on being reminded of our almost deaths, but yeah. I do." I answered. Ryuji looked satisfied with that.

"Well, just 'cause we both remember it doesn't mean much though… I mean, even if it was a dream, you saved me from Kamoshida. So yeah… Thanks, Johnny."

"On a first name basis now, huh? I'm cool with that. It's no problem dude." I smiled at him. "I wasn't just going to leave you there. I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself." He smiled in return for my thoughtfulness, but a scowl formed on his face.

"But man, that Kamoshida we saw there… You prolly don't know about it, but there are some rumors about him."

"That PE teacher from the school gates, right?"

"Yeah. That asshole who was all full of himself at the castle." Ryuji moved around in his chair to sit up. "No one says anything against him 'cause he's some medalist who took the volleyball team to nationals. The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real 'cause of that…" His face changed into a questioning one.

"...I wonder if we can go back to that castle again…"

"You WANT to go back to that murder castle!?" I screamed at him.

Ryuji rubbed his head all over.

"Ugh, forget it. I don't want hurt my head all over this shit." He got onto his feet. "Sorry to drag you out here like this. That's all I had to say."

"Like I said, no problem. You wanted to clear the air. I get that." I reassured him.

"You know, we might be pretty similar. I feel like we're gonna get along just fine as "troublemakers." "

'I felt a kindred spirit in him after all. I knew he wasn't so bad.' I thought. 'His naming sense is terrible though.'

"I'm Ryuji Sakamoto."

"Johnny Murakumo." I held out my hand to see if he would shake it. He respected my action and did so.

"I'll come talk if I see you around. Don't ignore me, all right?"

"I couldn't ignore you before. It's too late for me to do so now, Ryuji." He scratched his nose. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Let's go home." I decided to walk with Ryuji to the station home.

* * *

It was evening by the time I returned home after having a quick bite to eat. Sojiro was waiting by the counter. I got myself ready for questioning.

"Hey, I got an interesting call from your school today. It's only your first day and you're already showing up hours late?" He asked.

"I'm sorry. I had to help someone out."

"Yeah, that's what the staff said to me on the phone." He sighed. "Look, just behave yourself. Your life's forfeit if anything happens. You understand the meaning of probation, right?"

"I do." He sighed again while fixing his glasses.

"OK then." He replied before his phone starting ringing. He picked up the call. "Hey, what's up? ...Yeah, I just closed up shop. I'll be there in half a hour." He covered his phone and caught me eavesdropping. "Hey, what're you standing around for? Go hurry up on to bed. Don't forget to lock the door and turn all the lights off, OK?"

Embarrassed, I held my cap down and quickly went up to my room obeying him.

"...No, I just hired a part-timer. Yeah. I'm leaving now." I heard the front door open and close from above.

I groaned loudly as got myself out of my uniform and into my night clothes. I went down to lock the door and turn off the lights in the store. I went to the bathroom to wash up a bit and head up back to my room.

"Today, has been the longest day I've had in 3 years… I'm exhausted." I told myself as I fell onto my bed. It felt so comfy after today.

"Just what happened to me today? Was it really a dream? Can't be since we shared it…" I wondered out loud. Trying to sort out all the thoughts going through my brain.

I looked around to see the half messy room and the rest of my stuff still sitting near the couch. I'm not going to be able to put everything up today, again.

"Auuugh… I'm having game withdrawal…And gacha games suck ass." I whined. "Fuck it. I'm just going to sleep." I took of my hat and laid it next to me. I put the phone down on it as well with my alarm set for tomorrow.

My mind drifted into sleep.

* * *

Before I knew it, I found myself back in the Velvet Room again. I got up from the shitty bed and heard Caroline berating me. She must be mad about last time.

"...About time you've come to." She whacked the cell with her baton. "On your feet, Inmate!"

"OK! OK! I'm up!" I stood up to attention and went to the cell door. Justine spoke up.

"Our master wishes to speak with. It's for your own sake that you take his words to heart."

"I'll make sure to listen then. Because I've had the weirdest day, after all."

Igor began to speak.

"First off, let us celebrate our reunion." He looked at me with interest. "Oh…? You've awakened to your powers. And special ones at that. Your rehabilitation can finally begin." I decided to ask a question.

"Just what are my powers? I get that it's called "Persona" but that's all I get at the moment."

He chuckled at my question.

"There is no need to understand it all at the moment. You will be training in that power that you have awakened to. Personas are, in other words, a "mask"-an armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters."

"I am thou...and thou art I…" I put my hand over my face where the mask had appeared.

"Yes. Precisely. I have high expectations for you."

"What do you mean?" I asked. All I got was a vague answer.

"There is no need to worry. You will learn when the time comes." He made a motion with his hand. "By the by… have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator?" He asked.

"Metaverse Navigator? You mean that weird app?"

"Yes. Using it will allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces."

"So that strange castle was a palace…" I said to myself to cross reference the information I was receiving.

"...I bestowed it it to you as a means to train you as a thief."

"The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master! You better take care in using it, Inmate!" Yelled Caroline.

"Devote yourself to your training so that you may become a fine thief." Said Justine.

I stayed silent, but all this was overwhelming me a bit.

"It must be disheartening to make use of the Metaverse Navigator alone. Should there be others who would prove beneficial to you, I will grant it to them as well. This is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief…"

Before I could ask why, the alarm from within the room rang.

"Hmph, it's time. Go back and enjoy whatever rest you might have…"

'Caroline just had to get the last word in...'

My vision turned to darkness.

* * *

 **I don't how I honestly pulled this chapter off so quickly. I'm dying.**

 **I'm going back into my trash can.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry if people we're waiting for awhile (I'm still surprised I pulled another chapter out that fast). College is important so it's a higher priority than writing this fanfic. I'm glad that people are actually taking time out of their lives to read this thing. I understand a lot of the dialogue hasn't changed nor has changed how everything has progressed so far, but once I get the ball rolling, the stuff I have planned will come. Just don't expect something extraordinary.**

 **By the way, I personally admit that I don't think I can write good fight scenes, I can imagine them clearly through my thoughts, but putting them to written word is somewhat difficult at times. Besides, I don't think anyone would want to read every single movement of a battle unless I'm describing martial arts where that's crucial.**

 **Before we start, I ask that if you wish to review with more than encouragement, that you please do so under an account. My recent guest reviewer, I deleted your reviews so you could do just that. Don't think I'm trying to silence you. Feel free to repost your grievances. Though to answer you directly, you seem dissatisfied with my stories' premise so far. May I suggest reading something actually worth your time than this fanfiction? I'm sure you can find something better than this story.**

 **bold skills and keywords here**

 _italics flashbacks here_

'insert thoughts or comm communication here'

 _ **bold italic confidant/metaverse app/persona speak here**_

 _ **(insert music here)**_

* * *

 **4/12**

 **Tuesday**

"I WANNA FLY! FLY! Namanurui jikan nante kirisute. YOU FEEL THE BEAT! BEAT! Hibikikase, Jouzetsu ni sora wo mau no mo warukunai!"

Forcing my upper body to move upward from my bed, I groggily sat up. My eyes were stuck closed even more-so than usual. Forbidden Resistance wasn't helping.

"Ugh...That song was the only good thing to come out of Cross Ange besides El Ragna...But still, that is the worst song to wake up to right now." I whined as I quickly turned the alarm on my phone off. Wiping my face thoroughly with my hands, I tried to wake up from my sleepy stupor. My face was being stubborn today and refused to awaken.

'So that's how it's going to be… Well then, how about a little physical therapy!?' I yelled inwardly as I moved my hands upwards to my face, side to side. And with a swift motion, proceeded towards my cheeks. A loud, resounding sound filled the room. My cheeks felt numb but otherwise had awoken. I yawned.

"Man, why did it play Forbidden Resistance? I was hoping for Daybreak's Bell… Anywho, I need to gather my thoughts about yesterday." I said to myself. I decided to get ready for school while thinking about everything that happened. It was raining out today so I made sure to find myself an umbrella.

'King Kamoshida, Shadows, and Persona… Man, what kind contemporary fantasy book did I fall into? It's absolutely insane. Especially how I acted in that castle…' Those were the thoughts that were spinning around my noggin'. I focused on the last part. 'It was like a part of me that I usually didn't bring out took over. I felt like an animal that had just tasted freedom for a moment. True freedom to, as my Persona put it, "run wild."'

My thoughts had now focused fully. I needed to remind myself of my situation. 'I can't act out all willy nilly or suspiciously. Despite all the weird events that've happened recently… I don't want to burden Sojiro or my mom with problems just because of myself. But…'

" _ **Was your previous decision a mistake then!?"**_

That phrase echoed into my mind. My face probably had a troubled look on it. I clenched my fists. "No. It wasn't wrong." I said to myself in assurance of my decision. I left for school after I chowed down Sojiro's curry again for breakfast.

That stuff was too good.

The way to school was packed again. News filled the subway line about the subway accidents once more. I noticed a fellow student playing on a Vita. My gaming stuff was still packed on the couch so I decided to just listen to some music for the rest of the line. It helped in ignoring the passerby's who stared at me as I reached school.

I looked upon the building to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Rain droplets fell on my face to acknowledge my presence as reality. No illusions or anything. "No castle huh…" I walked inside the building and headed to class as I carefully re-tread yesterday's events within my thoughts.

* * *

Social studies class was interesting but nothing I hadn't heard before. I just made sure to put down key terms to study later. As I walked out of class I noticed Kamoshida was bothering Takamaki. 'This ass has the gall to pester the girl in the hallway?' I wondered. Kamoshida was telling Takamaki to avoid me. That settles the matter of who spread the rumors then. Figures.

At least Takamaki told the bastard off basically. Pervert got mad after she left and stormed off. Nice one, Takamaki. As I was leaving the school gate, Ryuji was waiting nearby. 'Waiting for me, I suppose.'

"Yo."

"Hey Ryuji. What's up?" I answered. "I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream… But I couldn't do it. I can't act like nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all." He stated. I crossed my arms leaned against the gate near him.

"So you're curious as well, huh…?" I added. Ryuji nodded. "I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what. And y'know, you're the only person I can rely on for this stuff. So, you in?" He asked.

I sighed.

"Well that place is dangerous and you don't have a Persona to fight those Shadow things. I can't exactly say no. So yeah, I'm in. If only to prevent you from dying." "For real!? Thanks man." He replied while putting his arms to his sides. "For now I think we should retrace our steps. You're walking to the train station right?"

I shook my head. I already had an idea on how we got that castle but I needed to confirm it without prying eyes around. "No. I think I know how we ended up at that castle. But to just to make sure, let's wait until students not busy with clubs finish leaving." Ryuji nodded. "Alright. I trust ya. So whaddya we do in the meantime?" I pointed over to the soft drink machine.

"I'll buy us some drinks and we'll wait somewhere nearby. Do ya like carbonated or non-carbonated?" I asked him. "Either one, but I'll take carbonated. Get me some TaP!" He replied. "Coming right up!" I went over to the machine got us two bottles of TaP. Carbonated refreshments are always so good.

We went over to someplace we could hang out at near the school gates and made small talk. I learned that Ryuji liked sports and some video games. He was more of a fan of fighting games and RPG's than anything else while I mentioned I was only really interested in Baseball from time to time. He mentioned getting Dark Souls 3 recently and traded PSN ID's so we could maybe play together sometime for some Jolly Cooperation. His taste in tunes wasn't too shabby either.

I also mentioned I was fan of manga and anime but not enough to show my true power level. I'm not too fond at the idea of being called an Otaku despite how my outward appearance. We went on like this until traffic from the school gate became non-existent. We walked back to the gate. Ryuji spoke up.

"So dude, what's your idea on how we get to the castle?"

"Remember how my phone went off before we went to school?" His eyes widened at my response. "Yeah. I remember, your phone had some sort of navigation app on saying crap." I nodded and pulled my phone to show him the weird app Igor was responsible for. "This weird app appeared when I first got to Shibuya. Every time I tried deleting the thing, it would pop back up the next day or so." Ryuji seemed a bit freaked out at my statement.

"Man, that's really creepy…"

"Tell me about it. I was about to delete it again before we went to school, but that's when you got on my case about Kamoshida. If I remember correctly, you said certain things that triggered my app to do something but I'm going take a shortcut so we can understand which words keyed in." We huddled together as I scanned the app for what I was looking for. It didn't take long till I found it. "Aha. Navigation history!" I exclaimed with mock realization.

"Dude, you're pretty tech savvy." I chuckled at Ryuji's compliment. "This is just basic logic and common sense put to use. But anyways, let's try it." I tapped the recent search history and found the last known usage. I looked at Ryuji for confirmation.

"Are you ready for this?" He nodded. I tapped my phone.

" **Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle…** **Beginning Navigation.** " It had worked! Ryuji seemed elated. "Alright! Now, we went in a certain direction, and then-" Before Ryuji could finish, something strange overcame us. As if the the world had pulsed around us. It was like the feeling from yesterday!

"Hey, what're you-huh…? Hey wait, what the hell!?" The app overtook everything until red and black static and the icon filled my phone's screen. Reality morphed around us until the school had become the very castle from yesterday. I was back into the clothes I had changed into when I had awakened my Persona. Ryuji ran inside after exclaiming over the castle. He stopped at the giant doors marking the entrance.

"We made it back… That means what happened yesterday was for real too-Whoa hey! Your clothes changed again. What's with that outfit!?" Ryuji asked in exclamation.

"It's pretty cool isn't it? Just like cosplay." I replied with a grin while checking it out. It was pretty swanky. Whatever it was made out of was high quality. "This ain't the time for being lax! What's goin' on here!? This makes no effin' sense at all…" Ryuji yelled.

In the corner of our vision, we noticed something approach us. "Hey!" It was Morgana that approached. "Stop making a commotion."

"Ah, you!?" Morgana gave languid expression at Ryuji. "The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be… To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

"What is this place? ...Is it the school?" Ryuji asked Morgana. "That's right." Morgana affirmed. "But it's a castle!"

"This castle IS the school. ...But only to this castle's ruler." I decided to interject. "So this place is something like the perception Kamoshida has of the school, right?" Morgana seemed happy at my response.

"That's correct. It's how his distorted heart views the school." He replied. "Distorted? Huh? I don't really get what you guys are saying!" Ryuji yelled. Morgana gave him a sassy look. "I wouldn't expect a moron like you to get it…"

"What'd you say!?" Suddenly screams echoed from inside the castle, startling us. Ryuji spoke first.

"What was that!?"

"It must be the slaves captive here." Morgana answered. "For real?" More screams answered his question. "Oh, shit… It's for real! We saw other guys held captive here yesterday… I'm pretty sure they're from our school." "Most likely on Kamoshida's orders. It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here. What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit." Ryuji wasn't amused.

"That son of a bitch…!"

Morgana and I cast a worried look towards Ryuji. "Ryuji…?" Morgana muttered. Ryuji exploded in anger. "...This is bullshit!" He ran towards the huge doors and slammed himself against them.

"You hear me, Kamoshida!?" I tried to calm him down to no avail. "Ryuji, shhh! The door isn't going to open doing that. Quiet down, I don't want you to attracting enemies to us!" Morgana turned to me, downtrodden. "It seems he has his reasons for being like that…"

Ryuji walked back over to Morgana. "Hey, Monamona!" Tactless.

"It's Morgana!"

"Do you know where those voices are comin' from…?" Morgana crossed its arms. "You want me to take you to them? ...Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if Hat-hair over here comes with us." "You know my name isn't "Hat-hair" right…" I whined. "But I guess that's fine. It's a deal."

Morgana jumped into the in confirmation. "It's settled then!" Ryuji looked grateful.

"Thanks man." Morgana gave a cheeky grin from the answer. "All right, let's do this. Follow me!" It led us to back to the shaft we escaped from originally. "This will be our infiltration point."

"But ain't this the place we escaped from?" Ryuji asked. "That's right. Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery." Morgana answered. "More stuff about phantom thieves huh…" I thought aloud. "How're we supposed to know about this stuff…?" Ryuji asked again. Morgana proceeded to quickly enter the ventilation shaft. "I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Come on, follow me!" It left us behind.

Ryuji turned to me. "Oh uh… sorry about dragging you into all of this… But I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants!" I grinned. "It's no problem. Albeit, I came along to satisfy my own curiosity about this place. Investigating Kamoshida is just a bonus." Ryuji smiled. "Really though, thanks for comin' along. I owe you big time." I laughed.

"Just don't regret owing me later."

* * *

 _ **(Persona 5 OST - King, Queen and Slave)**_

We reached what Morgana designated a "Safe Room." On the way there it taught me the basics of ambushing Shadows in order to gain an advantage in battle. Shadows don't play fair, so it's fair game to do so as well. I also ascertained a basic understand of the place we were in from it while Ryuji had trouble wrapping his head around it all as Morgana began to explain it more to him.

We were in another reality based on the perception Kamoshida saw the school. It changed from a School to a Castle as his worldview distorted through his current actions and personality. Becoming what Morgana called a "Palace." Morgana also mentioned that it had lost it's true form, becoming a cat in an unknown process. As we left the safe room to traverse deeper into the Castle Dungeons, I was also introduced to the concept of "Security Levels." The more we fight brazenly, the more alerted other Shadows and the Palace Ruler will become, making our infiltration even tougher.

It was a lot of information to take in at once, but I tried my best to keep this knowledge in mind. It began to seem like almost anything was possible within this world of cognition. This trend continued to be true when the Model Pistol I was given by Ryuji from the other time shot real bullets because the Shadow's thought it was real.

'Beliefs are a powerful thing even in real life. Should I even be surprised at this point?' I thought to myself. Before I could continue with my train of thought, our path became blocked by another Shadow. Morgana spoke up.

"There's no other way forward… I guess it's as good a time as any to teach you more tactics. All right, let's proceed with the ambush!" It told me. I nodded with affirmation as I rushed the Shadow from cover and quickly ripped its mask off, revealing a Pixie of all things.

"First things first, knock that enemy down a notch, Hat-hair!"

I growled in resignation to the nickname as I summoned Arsene to shoot an Eiha at the poor Fae. Knocking it flat on the floor with **Eiha**. Suddenly my body became possessed by an immeasurable force, instinctually leading me to "holding up" the Pixie. It was as if I had done such things before.

"Now, time for an **ALL-OUT ATTACK**!" And the world blurred within my vision. My body moved faster than it had ever done before while attacking the lone Shadow before us. As our relentless attacks finally finished, I could only imagine myself doing Jotaro's pointing pose from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as the Shadow dissolved.

It was an absolute rush.

"You did pretty well! You seem to have a kind of affinity for this stuff." Morgana told me with praise. I scratched my head sheepishly.

"Th-that was a hell'uva an attack! How did you do that!?" Ryuji exclaimed in surprise. "To be honest with you… My body just moved on it's own. Maybe it's an instinct ingrained into Persona-users?"

"That's one way to put it, I guess. You've shown so far that you have a good head on shoulders Hat-Hair, so why don't you dictate tactics from now on? Is that alright with you?" Morgana asked.

"If it's okay with you two, then fine. Don't expect much besides making sure we stay alive." I asserted. We continued deeper into the dungeons, but what we found wasn't pretty.

It downright pissed me off.

* * *

 **Nothing much to say.**


End file.
